In the first half of the 2000s, Atlanta-based producer, rapper, Yeah!-sayer, and all around party starter Lil' Jon was ubiquitous. As the architect of crunk music, a single radio station would often play three, four, even five of his songs in a row—stuff he'd crafted with (mostly) Atlanta-based artists like Usher, Ludacris, and Ciara. But now that he's back (with last year's LMFAO hit "Shots!" and a new album called Crunk Rock), here's the question: What the hell is the quintessentially Atlanta artist doing running around with all these L.A. club kids? And oh yeah: What's life like after Dave Chappelle has turned you into a caricature?

Everyone associates you with Atlanta. But you've been spending a lot of time in LA recently, right?

Yeah, my son moved out there about a year ago to act and model.Â

How's the transition been?

Even before my wife and son moved to L.A., I was working on my new album out there. Every album, I go to a different city and just post up and work. Last time I was in Miami. This time we started off in Vegas, then we moved to LA.Â

What was your setup like in L.A. for Crunk Rock?

We were in a mansion with a studio. It was me and four musicians, working around the clock.

Your most famous hits are hip-hop and R&B: Songs with Usher, Ying Yang Twins, Ludacris. But your most recent hits have been very different. You had "Shots" with LMFAO. You've been performing live with Steve Aoki. What's the appeal of the L.A. party kids?

I've never been one to stay in a box. I've been DJing all around the world recently, and that's how me and LMFAO met. For the "Shots" record, they just called me and said, "Yo, I think this record would be hot for you." The rest is history. Then I wanted to keep the chemistry going for my album, and we came with "Get Outta Your Mind."

As far as me and Aoki, we just met in the club. Then one day he hit me like, "Yo, I want you to get on the album," so I went by his crib. Then Winter Music was coming up, and he was like, "Yo, I'm doing this DJ A.M. tribute," and I was already going to be there because me and Travis Barker are friends. So Aoki was like "Yo, come rock with me." So it's that simple: You meet people in the club. That's how the business is.

If Twitter is to be believed, you've also been running around Los Angeles with Diplo, who's also a DJ and a producer. How'd you meet him?

I don't even remember. But Diplo and [Major Lazer co-founder] Switch came to my house at some point and played me the Major Lazer stuff, and we ended up working on a dubstep track together. Diplo's gonna release that really soon.

One thing I like about the list of people you've been working with recently is that, among music snobs, Diplo is as cool as it gets, while LMFAO is as uncool as it gets. You don't seem to care.

Yeah man, we just like to party.

Right, so any big pool parties at your L.A. mansion recently?

Occasionally we'd end up with a ton of people in the studio, and I guess that's like a party. But mainly, nah. We was workin. I had to get this album done.

Why have you gone back to DJing? I can't imagine the money is as good as producing radio hits for pop artists.

I've been touring Europe, and I did Asia twice last year. I was a DJ in the '90s—that's what I was known for—and now people know me for that again. I'm a real DJ, not one of these fake celebrity DJs who just plays a CD and gets on the mic. You gotta remember, the radio doesn't always play the stuff that's the shit in the club—you either hear it in the club before it becomes the shit on the radio, or it never gets to the radio at all, like Baltimore club music. So when you DJ, you're learning new stuff, meeting new people, and watching what makes people go crazy.

Dave Chappelle basically made you into a character, or a caricature. Does having a ridiculous, outsized public persona allow you to keep the real Lil' Jon private?

No. It makes it hard, because whenever I go out, even if I'm with my family, everybody wanna be screaming "Yeah!" and all that shit. So I try to disguise myself a little bit. But I understand—once you become an entertainer, you can't turn that shit off, you know?

You've had hits over the last couple years, but relative to the first half of the 2000s, you've been quiet. Are you eager to get back in the spotlight?

I'm ready to bring energy back to the music game, and a sense of humor, and approachability. People look at me as their homeboy. Even if you don't know me, I'm the artist who you act like you know. So I'm ready to get the people partying again.

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